Do you forget he's an older player and every year impacts him negatively? The lockout didn't help him either.

I agree, in the limited looks at him so far...and reading into the fact that he's not on the opening day line-up, he's lost a step from what was already starting to be a decline in his speed.

His hockey sense won't go away, but he's looking about Arnott's speed now. I'm still hopeful that he can be productive in a limited role this season, but at this point he is going to have to fight his way onto the 4th line.

The Reaves love on here is admirable, but there are still tools that Langenbrunner (or even Porter) have which Reaves doesn't have. There will be match-ups where it makes less sense to play Reaves.

The tough guy to figure is D'Agostini. He has a hard time gelling on the 4th line, and not quite good enough (at this point) for a top 9 role. I'm not sure what to read into Schwartz sitting out much more than the fact that Sobotka is playing really well and deserves more minutes right now. I think its more about Sobotka and less about Schwartz, just Schwartz is the obvious choice. Also, as a rookie, Schwartz would benefit from thinning out the schedule a bit and not having to play every single game. Must suck for D'Agostini though, to see Sobotka move up and Langenbrunner in, and he still sits. I sure hope he's getting motivated and not sulking. I was a little disappointed that he didn't show more in his start last week. It was an opportunity to show the coaches they were wrong to sit him, but he didn't really do that.